If I hadn’t been holding Korwin’s hand, we could not have saved our friends in time. Our protective shield snaps into place instinctively, but it is by force of will that we push it out, a glowing blue circle that keeps the worst of the explosion from shredding our wedding guests. We are too late to spare Trinity a nasty gash on the head. It bleeds, but she manages to grab Jeremiah’s wheelchair, shove through the crowd, and roll him from the room without looking back. Trinity is a survivor. I have no doubt she’ll keep Jeremiah safe and get out alive.
“We’re under attack!” Jonas pulls out his phone and starts jabbing the screen at the back of the crowd. “The force field is jamming the transmission.” He bolts out of our protective sphere as another bomb detonates across the building. He dodges a chunk of ceiling and races for the tunnels.
The emergency siren wails and the lights flash on and off above us. “Everyone to your stations,” David yells. “This is not a drill.” He shakes me by the shoulders, his face awash in blue from the power coming off us. “They’re going to need us on the front line.”
Laura grabs David’s elbow. “We need our dose of serum or we’ll be useless!”
Gesturing toward the hall, Charlie scowls at the buckling floor and crumbling walls. “We have to get the stores of serum from my office.”
“That’s the direction of the blasts,” David yells. “Without the serum we’ll be weak, but we won’t be dead.”
“We have to try. If the serum vials aren’t damaged, we may have enough to survive a few weeks out there. I won’t be able to replicate it right away, David. This is life or death!”
I turn to Korwin in horror. “SC-13!”
“He’ll be okay, Lydia. The material that pod is made of is strong as hell,” Korwin says.
“Charlie, where is SC-13 now?” I yell.
“Still in my office.” He shields his eyes to look at me, his forehead wrinkled with a question unasked.
“We go together,” I yell. “Stay close. Korwin and I can protect you.”
“You don’t know how long your remission will last.”
“Stop thinking so hard, Charlie.” David pushes the doctor into the hall with both hands, and we run for it. We are the only ones running in this direction for good reason. The walls buckle and groan. No one in their right mind would risk the reactor coming down on their heads. All of the others have escaped through the underground tunnels to the armory and are probably suiting up for war at this very moment.
The door to Charlie’s office has lost power and the Biolock won’t work. I push him out of the way and pulse it open. Inside is chaos. One wall has fallen in. Wires and steel girders are exposed and poke dangerously into the room. The gurney has toppled and is covered in bandages, needles, and instruments thrown from medical supply cabinets.
David and Laura rush past me to the cabinets along the opposite wall. The entire section of drawers is warped and blue drips from the corner of one. Charlie finds a strip of metal that’s broken loose from the gurney and wedges it into a crack in the skewed cabinet. He pries the drawer while David and Laura pull against the bent metal.
Korwin and I surround them in our force field, repelling chunks of concrete that fall from above. “Where’s SC-13?” I say, but only Korwin hears me over the clatter. With our hands coupled, I help him right a fallen rolling cabinet and search beneath it.
David plants one foot on the counter and pulls the drawer they’ve been working on. “I’ve got it,” he says. The screech of metal on metal fills the room as the drawer gives way. Charlie forms a makeshift bag out of his lab coat and the three start loading vials into it.
“Where’s the baby?” I yell again.
Charlie blinks at me as if he’s just figuring out what I’m asking. His eyes dart around the room. “He was here. He was right here.”
My heart races. Panic grips me by the throat. What if the Republic took him? I turn, the room blurring. I can’t breathe.
Korwin shakes me by the shoulder. “There.” He points behind the fallen gurney and yanks me over to it. Together, we toss the rolling bed aside. Under it is SC-13’s toppled cart. I dig through the splayed clutter, and kick aside the fallen mattress. The artificial womb has skidded from the cart and is hidden under it. I lift SC-13 from the rubble and breathe a sigh of relief that his heart is still beating.
Korwin hooks his hand through my arm and pulls me toward the door. The walls groan ominously. “We have to go. The building’s not stable.”
I see Laura pull the serum gun from her thigh. “I’m ready.”
Carrying SC-13 slows me down. “Let me,” Korwin insists. I shake my head. He’s mine. My responsibility. We race for the atrium and the tunnels, but we are too late. The hallway collapses, blocking our path.
“Out the garage,” David yells. We follow him through a storage area, down a hallway, and out into the garage at the front of the reactor. Before I know what’s happening, Charlie yanks SC-13 from me.
“What are you doing?” I lurch at him.
He ducks my swipe. “If you insist on carrying him, you need a better way. We can’t fight like this.” He slides the pod into a leather satchel. I slip the entire thing on my back while he moves the vials wrapped in his coat to another knapsack.
“Guns from the trucks!” David slams a loaded pistol into my hand. Korwin releases my elbow to arm himself. He hangs a rifle around his neck, grabs a pistol in one hand and tucks another into the back of his waistband.
The rat-tat-tat of bullets rings outside the doors. They pierce the windows, shattering the glass. I duck behind the jeep and cover my head. When the bullets stop, there’s a rattling thunk outside the far wall.
“Move!” Laura yells.
At superhuman speed, we race out the front door. Korwin and I have to separate to make it. We take shelter behind the largest trees we can reach. An explosion rips through the garage, igniting the automobiles within. I huddle behind the thick trunk of a sycamore as fire scorches my shoulders and the sides of my face. Burning branches rain down around me.
A flaming limb hits the backpack, and I beat out the fire. This isn’t safe. SC-13 can’t stay with me if I need to fight. It’s too dangerous.
The rustle of marching footsteps comes from a distance. I expect to see Green soldiers, but instead I see walking dead. Dark circles under red eyes, meatless limbs, hollow stomachs, open sores. Our attackers are Slip junkies from the Deadzone. I recognize some of the faces but can’t recall a single name.
The Deadzoners may not be in uniform but it’s clear who they work for. Each holds a weapon bearing the seal of the Green Republic. So much for not having the numbers to attack us.
Korwin meets my gaze and widens his eyes. The footsteps close in.
David breaks from his tree and comes out shooting with both hands. He won’t waste his electrokinesis unless it’s his last option. Deadzoners drop like flies. Every one of David’s bullets is true, hitting the head and neck. Our attackers try to shoot back, but they are clumsy with their weapons, bodies weak and slow from their addiction.
A woman dressed in rags with cornrow hair dodges behind a tree and throws a grenade.
“David! Run!” I yell. He does, but his feet still leave the ground when it detonates.
Enraged, I become foolishly brave. I chase the woman, gun drawn. She bolts into the woods and I follow. My mind is clear. My feet are fast. And I know these woods. I chase her deeper into the forest. When I catch her, she reaches for her belt, but she’s out of grenades. Instead, she grabs a knife, her dead eyes latching onto mine. She bares her teeth.
I shoot her in the head. Her body hits the forest floor and wriggles in the pine needles. My aim was true. The hole from my bullet entered her temple and blew out the back of her head. But she’s still moving. Breath rushing in my ears, I approach her. Her limbs twitch as if her body is still trying to work without her brain.
“Lydia.” The whisper comes to me from a group of trees to my left. I leave the dead woman and jog toward the voice to find Trinity and Jeremiah hiding, the wheels of his chair caked in pine needles.
Trinity grabs my wrist. “They’re Deadzoners,” she says. “New Generation has spent decades making them addicts. Fitzgerald must be using their addiction to bribe them into service for the Greens.”
“Elias Fitzgerald is the new chancellor,” I recall. “The Greens needed a bigger army, and he knew just where to get one. But this is more than addiction. That woman’s body wouldn’t stop moving. Whatever chemicals they’ve given them are pulling their strings.”
Trinity pales. “Is that even possible?”
“How else do you explain this? When we were in the Deadzone, Sting told me they’d all been registered with the government. I think they’ve been planning this for some time.”
“But they’re Slip junkies. Eventually, they’ll physically crash so hard the Green Republic will need a spatula to pry them off the ground.”
“How long does a Slip rush last?”
Trinity frowns. “If they loaded them up before sending them out here... I’ve heard of people lasting three days.”
I shake my head. “It’s too long. The Liberty Party militia won’t last.”
“What are you going to do?” Jeremiah asks.
I take the singed leather backpack from my shoulders and rest it in Jeremiah’s lap.
“What’s this?” Trinity looks at the pack, then looks at me.
“Something very important. Guard it with your life.” I meet Jeremiah’s eyes. “Don’t open it. Hide it where I keep my secrets. I’m counting on you.”
He nods. “I promise.”
Trinity’s eyes dart between us. “Where should I take him?”
“Jeremiah will show you the way. He’ll take you someplace safe. Home, to Hemlock Hollow.”
Trinity’s forehead wrinkles. “Where is that?”
“The preservation. Behind the wall.”
“No way. It actually exists?” Trinity’s eyes widen with terror and excitement. No doubt she’s heard there’s only dead or wild men behind the wall.
I don’t have time to ease her fears. “It’s several miles and it won’t be easy pushing him in this, but you must do it, Trinity.” She nods. “I’ll hold off the Deadzoners here. They won’t get past me.”
Jeremiah grabs my arm. “Be careful. Stay safe.”
I kiss his cheek.
Trinity pulls me into a quick hug and doesn’t waste a second more. Pushing Jeremiah back on the path, she sets off jogging behind him.
A bullet whizzes past my shoulder, barely missing Trinity’s head. I toss up my shield to protect myself and bolt for my attacker.
Dead eyes lock onto me. He aims and pulls the trigger. I spark. The bullet melts in the shield I throw off. He tries to adjust, to shoot again. I drop my shield and snap the electric ribbon from my head to my hand. Lightning coasts from my fingers. His gun drops and he falls, twitching.
I walk over to him, raising my gun and pointing it at his head. The man shows no fear or remorse. His fingers work through the pine needles, reaching for his gun.
I put a bullet in his brain. His red-rimmed eyes stare blankly into the gray sky above, fingers still twitching.
The pistol in my hand has a magazine that regularly holds ten bullets. But I have no idea how many are left in it. Charlie handed it to me from one of the vehicles in the garage. It might have been used before. I press the panel on the side and it lights up. Five left. I have to conserve ammunition, but I’m also weary of overusing my spark. The snap of twigs to my left brings me around. Another Deadzoner, and another. I’ll have to do the best I can with what I’ve got.
I engage. Running straight for the first, I avoid his bullets, weaving between the trees. He’s a poor shot. I reach him in no time and snap his neck. I’m on the second before he has time to react. He turns the gun around and tries to hit me in the jaw with the butt of his rifle. I duck and slam my elbow into his knee. When he falls, I shoot him with his own gun.
I have blood on my hands. I don’t think about it. My wolf is silent. She isn’t here to protect me, but I know to my core this is necessary. This is war. It is kill or be killed. No. If it were just that, I would sacrifice myself for peace. This is kill or watch others die. Trinity, Jeremiah, SC-13. I owe it to them to be brave and strong. And Korwin, I picture him on Konrad’s table, tortured within an inch of his life. I’m doing this for him too.
Another set of footsteps shuffle in the pine needles behind me and I run full force in the direction of the sound. I raise the rifle I’ve taken from the Deadzoner, only to lower it again when Korwin emerges from the trees. A second later, Jonas follows in his footsteps. They rush to my side, positioning themselves so we are back to back. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Jonas hold a gun.
“Thank God I found you,” Jonas says, glancing at us over his shoulder while keeping one eye on the woods. “I need your help.”
“To do what?” I ask.
“The analysts traced the chip from the drone in your room, Lydia. It had NGA’s digital signature and was controlled by the communications hub at CGEF. Konrad was working for Elias Fitzgerald.”
I can hear gunfire and explosions in the distance. “So what? We suspected it was Elias or another dignitary. How does that change anything?”
“We think the Greens put a mind control substance in the Slip,” Jonas says. “The ones we’ve killed aren’t thinking for themselves. They’re like zombies. The communications hub is sending out a signal, similar to the type they used with the drones. It’s working with the drug to control them neurologically. The Liberty Party can hold the Deadzoners back, but there are too many. If we’re going to win this war, we need to take out the hub and stop the signal. You two are our best hope of breaking into CGEF and destroying the hub.”
“What?” I shake my head. “But the war is here! You need us on the front lines.”
“Laura and David are already there. You two are faster and stronger. Plus, you have access without going through the battle to get to the grid.” Jonas turns to Korwin. “Take the tunnel under 54 Lakehurst in Willow’s Province, the one your father used for scamping electricity. It leads to Stuart Manor.”
I’d forgotten about the tunnel. It’s how Maxwell’s people abducted Jeremiah. “Fifty-four Lakehurst has been heavily guarded since the Greens arrested me,” I say.
“Eliminate any officers that are still watching the place, take the tunnel, and then gain access to the capital from there. With any luck, Maxwell’s cars are still in the garage.”
“Stuart Manor will be guarded, too.”
“We fry first and ask questions later,” Korwin says. They’re the words I used to convince him to rescue Trinity. His eyes flick to mine. “Jonas is right. We are the best chance of success.”
“Then you’ll do it?” Jonas asks.
“I’m in,” I say.
Korwin nods. “You can count on us.”
“Godspeed,” Jonas says, giving us a nod. He takes off running toward the front line, leaving us alone at the edge of the wood.
Korwin’s hand touches my back. “Where’s SC-13?”
“I sent him to my father’s with Trinity and Jeremiah.”
“Good. We’ll have to travel light.”
“Not exactly the honeymoon I expected,” I say.
He meets my eyes and pecks me firmly on the lips. “We’ll have it, Lydia, someday. The whole thing. A home, our own family, each other. Do you believe me?” His hazel eyes flash and sparkle.
“I do.”
“Close your eyes.” He wraps his arms around me from behind. “Picture it. Picture our life together.”
I’m almost afraid to let my imagination go there. If I picture it too clearly, I have more to lose. But I do picture it. A farmhouse, children, good friends, and hot meals. I open my eyes.
“We will find a way.”
“I know.”
“Then let’s go. The sooner we win this war, the sooner it can be real.” He tugs my hand and we take off at a jog in the direction of Willow’s Province.